As well known, jeans are a type of trousers made from a material known as denim, which is essentially made of cotton twill with white weft threads and indigo-dyed warp threads, which give it its characteristic colour. In the past, the material was used to make work clothes; it has been used widely to make all kinds of “denim” clothing, of which there are multiple varieties in terms of design and the mixture of materials with other materials, in addition to cotton.
Amongst said varieties, jeans that include certain percentages of polyester and elastane, in order to give them a particular stretchiness are known. However, in the majority of cases, said stretchiness is very limited and in general, does not enable the material to return to its original size once it has been stretched, even less so after the item of clothing has been washed. The elastic properties of the elastane are lost after several uses and washings. The only aim thereof is to provide the trousers with the stretchiness required for a certain fit to the body's curves. However, it cannot, of course, be used across all different women's, men's or kids sizes, thus meaning that it is usually necessary to make different sizes for each type of trousers, on the contrary that the present invention.
The aim of the present invention therefore is to develop a new type of garment, and specially fitted trousers, the stretchiness of which enables one sized garment to be used by all different sizes by women, men or kids, therefore making the manufacturing thereof far more economical, since it is no longer necessary to make different sizes of the same garment.
Likewise, when the garment has to show a jean or denim look, more or less aged, the application of treatments to age the jean material and give the fabric a distressed look in certain areas of the same is known about. However, these treatments use abrasive methods that may damage both the material and the seams, thus meaning that there is a risk of the item of clothing breaking. The manufacturing method of garments according to the present invention includes a specific washing treatment, which prevents any kind of distress on the stretchy material and protects the synthetic fibres in the fabric of the garment to maintain the elasticity in the same along the time, preventing its damage caused by its successive use and washing.
With reference to the current state of the art, it must be noted that although there are different types of garments in the denim field, the main garment with elasticity and denim look are the trousers. There are multiple types of denim trousers in the market, some of which include stretchy material, the existence of garments or denim trousers with similar technical and structural features to the garment hereby described, is unknown to the applicant.
Specifically, none of the fitted trousers manufactured in the state of the art refers to one size trousers that adjusts to women, men or kids of different sizes. Further no garment is known that satisfies the previous condition. Specifically, according to the present invention, one size garment fits all the sizes, especially in terms of its stretch properties. It should be understood that a garment manufactured for women fits all women sizes, a garment manufactured for men fits all men sizes and a garment manufactured for kids fits all kids sizes. Anyway, it could also be possible to manufacture a garment that could fit on men and women.
Anyway, no garment manufactured in the state of the art adjusts to all sizes as the garment proposed herein. This is due firstly because said prior art garment is manufactured in different sizes, thus meaning one garment is not suitable for all sizes, the elasticity thereof being limited, by the exclusive properties of the fibre itself. Secondly, it may be attributed to the different composition of the material, as well as using a low percentage of elastane that does not enable the shape of the garment to be regained once the material has been stretched, even less so after it has been washed, as well as the thread used for the seams and the type of stitch employed to join the different pieces that form the garment. Thirdly, in the case that the garment is a pair of trousers, it is because the product is manufactured in black and indigo blue colours and is not a pair of trousers subjected to a wash treatment to give them an aged denim look, thus meaning we cannot conclude that it constitutes a pair of strictly distressed denim trousers like the ones proposed in the present invention.
Moreover, in document US2014/0165265A1, by Levi Strauss & Co., a “Shaped fit sizing system with body shaping” is described, wherein a pair of fitted denim trousers is disclosed, which are nevertheless characterised in that they are developed according to a specific shape, in order to accommodate the different shapes of the female body, highlighting natural curves and minimising defects, by including additional pieces. As a result, such trousers are very different from the pair of stretchy trousers proposed herein.
Document EP2740373A1, by De Faria Sousa, describes “stretch trousers” which are characterised in that they are designed to sculpt the figure, preferably the female figure, from the ankles to the waist, via a series of changes in how the pieces that form the trousers are made, in comparison to typical trousers, in order to successfully elongate the figure with a slimming effect and increase women's comfort. These trousers are made of a material containing 60%-70% cotton, 20%-40% polyester and 3%-5% elastane. However, in addition to not being conceived to be able to adapt to all women's size, there is no mention to any type of thread or type of seam that increases the contribution to the stretchiness of the trousers, nor are they submitted to any treatment to protect the elastic fibres and give the trousers a distressed look, as with the pair of trousers of the present invention. The elastane actually used in clothes loses its properties after using and washing the clothes several times, reducing the durability of the clothes in comparison with the same clothes without elastane.
Furthermore, another pair of trousers is known through document US2013/0174324A1, by David Israel, specifically, an “Elastic stretching gathered denim fabric jean”, which enables a personalised fit to the body, giving a unique look through its combination of fabric made of a mix of semi-elastic denim fabric and gathered fabric, gathered by hand or machine and the stitching thereof, gathered vertically with elastic thread, from top to the bottom. In this case, therefore, the stretchiness of the pair of trousers is only produced in the vertical direction, by the gathered seams which, as shown in the exemplary figures, give a wrinkled look to the material, which is substantially different to the stretch effect in any direction achieved by the pair of trousers of the present invention, in order to fit to any women's size, this being achieved with a very different type of seam that does not wrinkle or gather.
In conclusion, none of the aforementioned documents, taken separately or in combination, describe garment or trousers like those disclosed in the present invention as claimed, nor does it seem that any of them aim at or achieve the aforementioned objective of being able to use the same sized garment or trousers, for women, men or kids, of any size, as a result of their noteworthy stretch and shape recovering capacity.